10 lectures in Düsseldorf, April 12–18, 1909; notes by participants from question-and-answer sessions

Ever since nature and consciousness were separated during the late Middle Ages—giving rise to scientific thinking that considers only the physical world and views the mind as merely an epiphenomenon of neural chemistry—the spiritual beings who are the universe have felt abandoned and unable to complete their work, which depends on human collaboration for its suc­cess. Human beings have likewise felt aban­doned and alienated.

In these remarkable lectures, Rudolf Steiner reestablishes the human being as a participant in an evolving, dynamic universe of living spiritual beings: a living universe, whole and divine. He does so in concrete images, capable of being grasped by human consciousness as if from within.

How is this possible? Implicit in Rudolf Steiner’s view is the fact that, essentially, the universe consists of consciousness. Everything else is illusion. Hence, to understand the evolution of the cosmos and humanity in any terms other than consciousness is also an illusion. Whenever we are dealing with grand cosmic facts, we are dealing with states of consciousness.

But states of consciousness never exist apart from the beings who embody them. Therefore, the only true realities are beings in various states of consciousness. In this sense, Steiner’s spiritual science is a science of states of consciousness and the beings who embody them. Indeed, any science—physics, chemistry, botany, psychology—is a science of beings. And the sensory perception, or physical trace, is simply the outer vestment of the activity of beings in various states of consciousness. To describe these beings, Steiner uses the names made familiar by the wisdom traditions of the West. He speaks of the evolutionary states of Saturn, Sun, Moon, and so on; the nine choirs of angels; elemental beings and nature spirits; and the elements of fire, earth, air, and water.

LECTURES:

The Renewal of Primeval Wisdom

The Four Elements, Fire, and the Elemental Beings: the Lowest Realm of the Hierarchies

Planetary Evolution: Saturn and Sun Stages of Evolution and the Spirits of Personality

A Fond Farewell and a Warm Welcome

As most of you are aware, the time has come for Bob and I to retire and pass the baton to someone younger who is capable of taking the bookshop forward and continuing our work. We are very fortunate to have found such a person, Angela Guzzo.

Before introducing her, we want to take a moment to tell all of you how very grateful we are that you have supported us throughout all these many years (22 !). The creation of Bob & Nancy’s Bookshop / WaldorfBooks.com has been a work of love from the very beginning and remains so to this day. For me (Nancy) it has been the fulfillment of my childhood wish, born the moment I first set foot in a bookstore with my mother, to have my very own bookstore some day. It has also been the fulfillment of our shared desire to do what we could to support and further the goals of Waldorf Education and a humane world, filled with wonder and vision. For Bob, the bookstore fulfilled his desire, also held since childhood, to own his own business, and has allowed him as a programmer and designer to explore the limits of graphic design and web site functionality in ways that have been remarkable for both beauty and function.

Every day spent filling your orders, ordering more books, and generally keeping things running has been a gift, one which would not have been possible with your support. We are so grateful to all of you for giving us this opportunity, and for the fact that you found value in our service. Thank you all for the richness this has brought into our lives – we will carry it in our hearts forever.

It is with great joy that we welcome Angela Guzzo as the new owner of WaldorfBooks.com. Beginning Saturday, October 25, she will take over the reins, filling orders and helping you find what you need. We are all very fortunate that Angela is both willing and very, very able to guide WaldorfBooks.com through its next phase.

Angela comes with a considerable knowledge of Rudolf Steiner’s work, and the realities of teaching. She has been a Waldorf homeschooler since 2007 and founded McMinnville, Oregon’s Waldorf homeschooling coop in 2010. She has two delightful children, and a very supportive husband, Phil. Her technical skills are impressive — she is more than able to keep the web sites humming. But, mostly, she has a real heart for this work. She loves books, children, Waldorf education and the Love that guides our world. She, too, has always wanted her own bookstore and has embraced WaldorBooks.com with open arms. Keep watching – she also has lots and lots of ideas for expanding what WaldorfBooks.com offers. ‘Energy’ is her middle name, and we are unreservedly confident that you will be very well served by Angela over the coming years.

Towards Creative Teaching is a truly comprehensive overview of all main-lesson and accompanying subjects, offering a wealth of guidance, knowledge and inspiration for Waldorf class teachers. This wonderful resource book for Steiner-Waldorf teachers offers ideas for planning, shaping and developing lessons for Classes 1 to 8.

Taking the Waldorf curriculum as its basis, and without being restrictive or prescriptive, this book comes out of a teachers’ working group and provides helpful suggestions to both class teachers and subject specialists, adding to the richness and imagination of each teacher’s own work.

It offers a truly comprehensive overview of all main-lesson and accompanying subjects, bringing with it a wealth of guidance, knowledge and inspiration for Waldorf class teachers.

A must-have for any class teacher or homeschooler working within Waldorf education. Very highly recommended!

* * * Temporarily out of stock. More on the way!! * * *If you order this item it will be shipped in 1-2 weeks.

This book began as a lark but kept on growing – especially when teachers and parents contacted Reg and said their kids loved this slightly zany, fast-paced tale. Pinrut’s fans have been of mixed ages, too: grade 3, 4, 5, 6 – also the kids in a grade 8 class were highly amused by him and inspired to write similar tales of their own as part of their writing block.

There was once a turnip. He was an ordinary turnip, one you’d pass by without noticing. He grew in a row of turnips, one of many rows of turnips in a field that was one of many fields of turnips. That’s how ordinary this turnip was. Neither bigger, nor smaller, nor fatter, nor skinnier, nor longer, nor sweeter, nor more peppery: that’s how he was. And he had company, as you can imagine, for there were lots like him—thousands in fact.One summer’s evening this turnip up and left. He’d had enough. He pulled himself from the ground, turned upside down, and took off on his leafy stalks. He ambled along the row and out of the field.“Hey, you can’t do that!” cried the other turnips.“Watch me,” said the turnip.And watch him we will, through all nine lives: in America, Canada, China, New Zealand, New Guinea, Mars and Wobbles. Naturally he has a few adventures on the way, but his skills and savvy, indeed, his sheer existence, also come to the attention of the devilish boss of a nefarious GMO seed corporation called Nonsanto. Need we say more?!

Hettie the Highland cow has lots of hair to keep her warm and cosy. But other animals want to be cosy, too… In springtime, two blackbirds stop by and build their nest in Hettie’s hair. She’s a cow not a hedge!

In summertime, butterflies lay their eggs in Hettie’s fur, and they grow into wriggling caterpillars.

In autumn, a squirrel burrows into her fur to hibernate.

And in winter, a mountain hare hops aboard, too! Poor Hettie. She’s a cow, not a hairy hotel! Maybe it’s time for a haircut…

In a few brilliantly written pages, Waldorf teacher Ted Warren lays out the rules, concepts and definitions that all fourth graders need to know in order to become masters of written and spoken English. Any adult will recognize on each page one “a-hah” moment after another, as things many of us find only partially clear come to life in ways that are engaging and, perhaps more importantly, highly memorable.

Used as the lesson material to accompany English Workbook for Fourth Grade, this manual becomes a tour de force by way of introduction to spoken and written English. Fourth graders will find themselves fully in charge of the grammar, spelling, and syntax that so often bogs them down at this age, teachers will find themselves empowered to teach with freedom and consummate effectiveness.

This outstanding workbook is so beautifully conceived, with exercises that are so creative, engaging, and masterful in their ability to teach the basics of English grammar and syntax that I can only imagine parents, teachers and, yes, students cheering as they explore its pages. Accompanied by the information the teacher will bring from The Teacher’s Manual for English Workbook for Fourth Grade, students will discover clear rules for punctuation, parts of speech, and spelling. They will also discover how exciting English can be and some of the many wonderful things one can do with it.

Topics include:

Nouns and Verbs

Adjectives

Adverbs

Nouns

Articles

Pronouns

Prepositions

Connectives/Conjunctions

Simple and Compound Sentences

Interjections

Numbers

Punctuation

Capitalization

Writing a Personal Letter

Ted Warren is an experienced Waldorf teacher who has dedicated his life to discovering effective ways to us Waldorf methods to firmly implant knowledge in the minds of students. The Fourth Grade and Fifth Grade manuals are the beginning of a series with Sixth Grade coming soon. We can hardly wait to see it, as this Workbook is filled with the sort of content for which homeschoolers and class teachers have been yearning.

The authors, each expert in various aspects of early childhood development and pedagogy, approach their subject from a variety of perspectives, ranging from physical development to social development, cognitive development and studies demonstrating the impact of early academic education and more. This little book is a powerhouse of information and insight, and comes with a multitude of illustrations in color and duotone that chronicle the changes in human beings from birth through the early grades. Especially interesting are the full color reproductions of children’s artwork that follow the development of different children over time. Being able to “see” these children develop is a fascinating journey as well as being concrete evidence of the changes taking place within each human being.

This research was originally presented at a colloquium at the Goetheanum in February 2013.